Business Today

When Harold Tilley, director of the Career and Technology Center in Cape Girardeau, retires at the end of the school year, he will be replaced by a man who has been serving as his understudy for almost a year.

In late March, the Cape Girardeau School Board approved Rich Payne, current assistant director of the CTC on Silver Springs Road, as Tilley's replacement.

Tilley has been the director since 1992.

Payne has been serving the district for 13 years.

After teaching and coaching at Southeast Missouri State University for seven years, Payne took a job teaching social studies and physical education at Central Junior High School in 1989. He taught for five years before becoming the school's assistant principal, a position he also kept for five years, before taking his current position in July.

He will take over for Tilley on July 1.